Synopses & Reviews
We humans live by stories, says David Korten, and the stories that now govern our society set us on a path to certain self-destruction. In this profound new book, Korten shares the results of his search for a story that reflects the fullness of human knowledge and understanding and provides a guide to action adequate to the needs of our time.Korten calls our current story Sacred Money and Markets. Money, it tells us, is the measure of all worth and the source of all happiness. Earth is simply a source of raw materials. Inequality and environmental destruction are unfortunate but unavoidable. Although many recognize that this story promotes bad ethics, bad science, and bad economics, it will remain our guiding story until replaced by one that aligns with our deepest understanding of the universe and our relationship to it.
To guide our path to a viable human future, Korten offers a Sacred Life and Living Earth story grounded in a cosmology that affirms we are living beings born of a living Earth itself born of a living universe. Our health and well-being depend on an economy that works in partnership with the processes by which Earth's community of life maintains the conditions of its own existence—and ours. Offering a hopeful vision, Korten lays out the transformative impact adopting this story will have on every aspect of human life and society.
Synopsis
When Corporations Rule the World has become a modern classic. Korten's warnings about the growing global power of multinational corporations seem prophetic today. The book has become a bible of the anticorporate movement. Korten illuminates how the convergence of ideological, political, and technological forces has led to an ever-greater concentration of economic and political power in a handful of corporations and financial institutions, separating their interests from the human interest and leaving the market system blind to all but its own short-term financial gains. He documents the devastating human and environmental consequences of the successful efforts of corporations to reconstruct values and institutions everywhere to serve narrow financial ends. He explains why human survival depends on a community-based, life-centered alternative beyond the outmoded strictures of communism and capitalism and suggests specific steps to achieve it. This twentieth-anniversary edition includes a new prologue and a new epilogue. The new prologue reflects on events since 1995 that relate to the expansion of corporate power, such as the growth of the global anticorporate movement, the global war on terror that began after 9/11, the financial crash of 2008, and more. The epilogue provides a look ahead at what is required for a future free of corporate domination.
Synopsis
In this new edition of his classic book, David Korten illuminates the convergence of ideological, political, and technological forces that have driven an ever-greater concentration of economic and political power in a handful of corporations and financial institutions and left the market system blind to all but its own short-term financial gains. As he vividly documents, the social and environmental consequences of these efforts have been devastating. Human survival depends on a global community-based, life-centered alternative beyond the outmoded ideologies of communism and capitalism. Korten lays out specific steps to achieve it.In the new introduction and conclusion, and the updated prologue and epilogue, Korten shares insights from his personal experience as a participant in the growing new economy movement; reviews the implications of relevant events since 1995—including the global democracy movement, 9/11, the war on terror, and the financial crash of 2008—explores why the institutions of what he calls a suicide economy resolutely resist even modest reform; and outlines high-leverage opportunities for breakthrough change.
Synopsis
Our Choice: Democracy or Corporate Rule A handful of corporations and financial institutions command an ever-greater concentration of economic and political power in an assault against markets, democracy, and life. It's a “suicide economy,” says David Korten, that destroys the very foundations of its own existence.
The bestselling 1995 edition of When Corporations Rule the World helped launch a global resistance against corporate domination. In this twentieth-anniversary edition, Korten shares insights from his personal experience as a participant in the growing movement for a New Economy. A new introduction documents the further concentration of wealth and corporate power since 1995 and explores why our institutions resolutely resist even modest reform. A new conclusion chapter outlines high-leverage opportunities for breakthrough change.
About the Author
David C. Korten is a cofounder and board chair of the Positive Futures Network, which publishes YES! Magazine; founder and president of the People-Centered Development Forum; an associate of the International Forum on Globalization; and a member of the Club of Rome. He serves on the boards of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economics and the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Author Residence: Bainbridge Island, WA.
Table of Contents
Prologue: In Search of a Deeper Truth Chapter 1. Our Story Problem
Chapter 2. Our Quest to Know
Chapter 3. A Brief History of Story Politics
Chapter 4. Living Universe
Chapter 5. Children of a Living Earth
Chapter 6. Making a Living
Chapter 7. Enslaved by Corporate Robots
Chapter 8. Economics for a Living Household
Chapter 9. A Living Economy for a Living Earth
Chapter 10. Own the Story, Own the Future